With your permission, I will take on the position of resident Cat Stevens expert. Only because I am/was a big fan of his (as well as Gord's) and I continue to appreciate what he committed to vinyl/cd before "retiring". I never really thought about a contrast between his and Gord's music, except they both have produced sophisticated, intelligent music in their careers. Steve, he only used Cat Stevens as
a business name, gave it all up in 1978 to convert to Islam and has, indeed, done much for the Islamic community in England. No, I can't imagine being so gifted musically and just chucking it all. But then again, I have never had any kind of religious epiphany to compare it to. Both Cat Stevens and Gord were accomplished guitarists, C.S.
became more advanced on keyboards than Gord ever wanted to, and wrote songs that connected with people on a basic level. Whereas Gord has kept to a similar style, C.S. really expanded his use of instruments on each successive album. Compare how far advanced the instrumentation is of "Buddah and the Choclate Box" to "Teaser and the Firecat" even tho they are just 3 years apart. Many feel C.S. lost sight of what endeared him to fans, making each successive album less accessible to the fans, but that is subjective, I guess. Yeah, I do wonder what great songs he would have made had he continued his career, but he grew to just hate the record business and found something to make him happy. I'm sure Gord has disliked how the record industry is run from time to time, but he has been able to deal with it. Both men have provided me with many, many years of entertainment, and I cherish them both. I feel lucky that I've been able to appreciate them, and feel sorry for people who couldn't care less about either man.
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